Finding the Hidden
by takemeanywhere
Summary: Ella Herondale visits the library in the middle of the night.


_**Finding the Hidden**_

Ella held the candle in front of her at arm's length as she snuck quietly through the hall. Her surroundings were softly illuminated by the candle's light glow. It was late in the evening, and she was certain that both mother and father must be asleep by now.

The door to the library creaked slightly as she slowly opened it. She peered through the crack, and when she saw that no one was in it, she slipped in.

There was knowledge in this room, so heavy that sometimes Ella thought she could feel it. It was a library, after all, and here was where all the books her family owned were. Books which taught numbers, books which held stories, books filled with poetry, books of all kinds and sorts. But tonight, she was not interested in any of those. Tonight, she wanted to read the forbidden books.

Those books were filled with forbidden knowledge. It was why they were called forbidden, after all. Forbidden meant that they could not touch them, could not read them, but Ella had learned long ago that just because something was forbidden, it didn't mean she could not do it. Hadn't mother forbidden her from climbing trees, from riding the still untrained horses- for they were both very unladylike things to do and mother wanted her to become a proper lady- but hadn't she done so anyway? She was never much of a lady, and in the end no lasting harm had come out of it.

Ella inhaled deeply, breathing in the smell of musty old books. She was sure that these books held answers.

What was father hiding? Ella knew that father must be hiding something, since he never talked about the past. Why, father hadn't even told her how he had fallen in love with mother, when she and Cecily had asked. There had to be a story, because father sometimes glanced at mother in such a way that Ella knew that he would sacrifice his life for her, even though Ella had not the slightest idea why he would need to do so.

Cecily oftentimes made up stories of how their parents fell in love. They were always sweet but overly dramatic and theatrical. She told their story with sweeping hand motions and such heartfelt emotion that Ella was sometimes worried she might collapse. Cecily was quite fond of the idea of their parents being like Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy, in Jane Austin's Pride and Prejudice. It was possible. It was true they often bickered.

But Ella thought that none of Cecily's stories had the possibility of being true.

Ella imagined a tragedy, although she was never one who particularly enjoyed them- that was Will. In Ella's mind, mother and father had to fight hard in order for their love to be recognized, and in the end, they had failed, so they were forced to move to the countryside, to Wales, and attempted to find peace and create a normal family.

A tragedy would explain the scars and strange marks that covered father.

The forbidden books were not hidden. Before, they were stored behind a fake wall, but when Will discovered them, they were moved to their own, special, forbidden section. Father had hoped that respect and his warnings against their insatiable curiosity would be able to ward them away from the books, but just in case, he had placed them on the highest shelf- the shelf so high, even father would not be able to reach it without standing on a chair.

No matter, Ella thought, all she had to do was climb. She was a better climber than a boy, after all.

Ella stood on her tip toes, held the candle as high as possible above her head, and looked up, squinting her eyes in an attempt to read the titles. _Crime and Punishment, Wuthering Heights_, she thought she read. But no, that had to be wrong. Either that or these were not the forbidden books. She remembered that those books had strange titles such as _the Codex_ and the _Songs of the Seraphs_.

She knew she was at the right bookshelf, which could only mean one thing. Father had moved the books. But to where?

The house was not big enough to have multiple hidden rooms. Ella suspected the fake wall in the library was built specifically for the books, so she doubted there were others. Father's study was often ransacked by Will, so unless they were in a hidden compartment in his desk, they would not be there either. Father's desk was not big enough to hide all of them anyways.

Had father given them to Will because boys were allowed to do more forbidden things than girls were? No, Will would have said something by now, Ella was sure of it. He could never keep a secret from her or Cecily.

Where else could they be? They would have to be somewhere father knew they would not look, or else they would read it. Hiding it should be impossible; she and Will and Cecily played everywhere in the house.

They played everywhere in the house, except here, in the library.

None of them particularly liked the lessons that took place in the library, even though they all enjoyed reading. Mother always fetched their books, and Ella herself liked reading outside during the times the weather was nice. They placed the books they especially enjoyed on their own, separate bookshelf in their rooms. So no, besides the lessons, they never really visited the library, and they certainly haven't closely inspected the shelves.

So the books are here, Ella thought, just not on their shelves. How would she find them? They had a lot of books; it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack, and she didn't have a clue about how they were sorted.

Ella walked to the back of the library, noticing how the candle had already melted halfway. If she wanted to find them, she would have to hurry. She scanned the titles of the books. _A Tale of Two Cities, David Copperfield, Great Expectations_, she read. Father and mother must sort have sorted them by author, she thought, which was practical and made sense. And then she saw it: _the Song of the Seraphs_.

Her face broke into a grin. She knew that title; she found the book.

It was too high for her to reach. She would have to climb.

She gently set the candle on the ground a good distance away from the shelf, so if she fell she would not knock it over. Then she stepped on the bottom shelf and tested it, seeing if it could hold her weight.

It could. Thank goodness she was light and was not wearing one of those horrendously heavy dresses mother always wanted her to wear.

She nimbly climbed up and slid the book of its shelf. Then she looked down. She realized something then. She always forgot that climbing down was the hard part.

And this time, unlike the time with the extremely tall tree, there was no one there to help her.

Could she jump? She wasn't that high off the ground, and the carpet on the floor was soft. It should muffle any sound crashing down might make. She would have to jump, she decided, she wouldn't be able to climb down while holding the book.

Suddenly, it seemed as if she was very, very high of the ground. She jumped before she could change her mind or lose her fleeting courage.

To her surprise, she landed smoothly on both feet. Jumping down the shelf was much easier than slowly and arduously climbing down the tree. Perhaps, she thought, she should've jumped then too.

With the book in one hand and the candle in the other, she prepared to trek back to her room. Ella smiled. Her midnight excursion was successful.

Then the door creaked open. Ella instinctively put out the candle. She saw a small figure holding a light. It was Cecily.

"Ella?" whispered Cecily, in the hushed tones of a child who did not want to be heard. "I know you're in there. Mother and father are going to catch us. You know they don't want us to be out of our rooms in the evening."

"I wanted something to read," said Ella, clutching the book to her chest so that the title was facing away from Cecily, "I woke up and couldn't fall back asleep."

Cecily's blue eyes were filled with suspicion. Ella could see it even in the dim glow of the candle. "You have _Jane Eyre_ in our room."

"I finished that long ago," replied Ella. "I was leaving now."

Ella could hear her sigh. "Let's go then," she said, waiting for Ella to join her. They quietly walked out of the room.

"Why are you here?" Ella asked quietly as they walked through the hall. She was genuinely curious. Cecily could sleep alone fine.

Cecily glared at her. "Last time you snuck out, father and mother were both angry with me. Now it's officially my duty to make sure you behave." Ella rolled her eyes. Sometimes their roles were reversed.

When they successfully reached their room without an incident, they both let out a breath of relief. Cecily reached for the book in Ella's hands. "What book is it?" she asked.

Ella pulled the book closer to her. It would do her no good for Cecily to find out that she was planning on reading one of the forbidden books. She would want to read it, and then Will would want to read it, and then somehow their parents would find out about the books too. It would cause trouble and hassle for all. "You can't just grab your sisters book," Ella cried indignantly, "I'll lend it to you once I'm finished." And she would replace it with a book she knew Cecily would hate. Perhaps _Macbeth_.

Cecily rolled her eyes. "All right," she said while yawning. "I'm sleeping now. If you plan on reading, go to the corner." Ella realized she was tired too, but there would be no better time for privacy then now.

She took out _Jane Eyre _and pretended to read it while she waited for Cecily to fall asleep. When her sisters breathing steadied, she took out _The Songs of the Seraphs_.

It was an old book with thin pages which made it seem fragile, and although it was not thick, it felt heavy in her hands. On the cover was a symbol which she thought vaguely looked like an angel. Ella knew, just knew, that this book held the answers she wanted.

She almost reverentially flipped it open, and held the candle up to read.

_Seraph blades are the holy weapons of the Nephilim and are crafted by the Iron Sisters- the sisters of the Silent Brothers- and no others_.

What are Nephilim?, Ella wondered. Who are the Iron Sisters and Silent Brothers?

_Made of adamas, they contain a burning and all consuming flame. With a searing, radiant power no evil can quench, they dispel and destroy all darkness, especially in demons_.

Ella's brow furrowed with confusion. She knew that there were no such things as demons, but the book seemed as if it was attempting to be informative, not amusing. She read on.

_At first glance, seraph blades may seem like dull, useless tools, but when their angelic name is called upon, the blade erupts with a fiery light and their powers are revealed._  
_Although Shadowhunters do not make them, the one who uses them are the ones who name them. A seraph blade can be called any angelic name, with the exception of the fallen angel Raziel._

Ella continued to read, learning about another, hidden world. Although the book spoke mostly about their weapons, Ella could piece together quite a few things.

The people of the other world were called Nephilim or more commonly Shadowhunters, and they fought demons and evil from other realms. They used weapons called seraph blades, and to make themselves stronger, they drew runes, or iratzes, on themselves.

So those were the marks that covered Father's skin. Father was, or at least had been, a Shadowhunter.

Mother was not.

The book had called people like mother mundanes. Ella wondered if she, too, was a mundane. Or did she have sight, and was therefore a Shadowhunter like father?

And what about Cecily? Will?

The book had answered questions, but in the end, those answers just led to so many more questions. Ella thought about the library, and the other forbidden books she knew were hidden in there. What answers did they contain? What questions did they lead to? If their title contained the words demon, iratze, Nephilim, or anything of the like, she would read them to find out.

There were secrets in the library. Ella promised herself she would find them.


End file.
